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Monday, 12 September 2016

Writers Need To Be Who They’re Meant To Be…

How many times have you compared yourself
to other writers? Lots, I’d wager. If you write horror, I’m sure you try to
measure up to Stephen King. Or if middle grade or young adult is your genre of
choice to write, then do you try to be as good as J.K. Rowling or Stephanie
Meyers or Rick Riordan? If you do, you’ll hit a brick wall every time because
all those authors are being who they’re meant to be and excelling at it. Sure,
they’re the trail-blazers, and many times pacesetters in their genres. But if you
constantly compare yourself to bestselling traditional authors or successful
indie authors then you’ll never be happy.

Stop. Doing. That.

There’s no magic bullet when it comes to a
career in publishing. What you can do is learn to use your strengths and
embrace your weaknesses, and then delegate what you can’t do. Choose an author
you admire as a pacesetter, but don’t constantly compare yourself to him or
her. Learn from them. Watch what they do, and do what you can or what you feel
comfortable doing. Take risks, but don’t compromise your integrity. I’m not the
greatest public speaker (nor do I want to be). The thought of doing a school
visit shakes me to the core. But I’ve moved out of my comfort zone to do them.
Not many, but some. On the other hand, I try to go out of my way to help other
authors achieve their goals and dreams by tweeting or sharing their books, or
hosting them on my blog. After all, there’s strength in numbers!

I read a post from Kristen Lamb about why you
should use your author name to build your brand. She shares the formula to
create a brand in the post. So using my own name, the formula would go like
this:

The more books you write and get
published, the bigger your platform gets, and the more readers will seek you
out. Think about the music industry. If say, Katy
Perry (one of my favs) only had a few songs on tap and never bothered
creating a body of work, she’d never be the successful singer that she is today.
Same with Adele or Justine Timberlake.
One hit wonders are just that— they burst onto the scene, and then fizzle out just
as fast if they don’t continue to build their brand. So don’t write one book,
create a backlist.

When I first started contemplating a
career in writing I used Diana Gabaldon (who writes the
Outlander series) as a pacesetter. I tried to write thick, juicy books loaded
with descriptions and character development like she did. Um. Yeah. Throw me in
the time portal now so I can unlearn that. Although I did learn many things
from her style and writing, I could never be her. There’s only ONE Diana
Gabaldon, and that’s fine by me. I think I’ll concentrate my energies on being
Sharon Ledwith, stop comparing myself to other authors, and write more books
for my readers to escape to the past and have a blast!

BTW—Speaking of more
books, Book 2 in my time travel series, The
Last Timekeepers and the Dark Secret comes out October 17th through Mirror World Publishing! It’s been a long
time coming and I can’t wait! And if you can’t wait, here’s the Amazon PRE-ORDER
link if you feel inclined to check out my newest time travel adventure. Cheers
and thank you for reading my blog! I truly appreciate it!

I am trying to be who I am meant to be but keep getting sidetracked. It is hard not to compare oneself with other more successful authors. Thanks for this great article! Best of luck with the new book. October will be a good month for both of us.

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About Me

Sharon
Ledwith
is the author of the middle-grade/young adult time travel adventure series, THE
LAST TIMEKEEPERS, and the teen psychic mystery series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM
FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading,
exercising, anything arcane, and an occasional dram of scotch. Sharon lives a
serene, yet busy life in a southern tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her
hubby, one spoiled yellow Labrador and a moody calico cat.